"What are you writing, Alex?" Draco asked, checking the wolf's crooked handwriting on the paper.
"Some nonsense, I'm brainstorming," Alex said, showing Draco some sheets of illegible cursive writing, "But I think it matches what Zeth wrote perfectly."
"You can read that?!" Paul blinked rapidly, reaching across the table to take the pages, "I need a translator. Draco and Zeth write in doctor's handwriting."
"I've never been able to read Draco's or Zeth's handwriting," Frank said, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I only read paracetamol and ibuprofen when I read what they both write," Finn said. "My grandfather wrote much more unreadable than Draco and Zeth though."
"Oh! You should see how we wrote in Evalon, that required an entire postgraduate in literature!" Draco laughed.
"What is..."
"Never ask about Evalon, Paul. They'll never tell you anything," Alex said and Paul laughed nervously, because he could understand that. There were some secrets you'd rather keep hidden in the shadows.
"So, Alex. Did you learn to read cursive from Draco here?" Paul asked.
"Not really, my dad writes cursive and..." Alex sighed, "And I never could write that way because I'm not 'elegant' like the rest of my family."
"I was never elegant either, and my family was the most 'elegant' in Evalon," Draco rolled his eyes, "They were also the most dishonourable and cruel. You can ask the extinct House Collem, my father ordered the execution of all of them when he became Duke of Bloodstone. My entire family was cruel, particularly with me. Everyone was an asshole, although sometimes my brother treated me well, very sometimes."
"Can relate, my family always treated me with contempt." Alex said, and he put his arm around Draco. "I've never been well-regarded by anyone in my family. Child of an affair was my royal title."
"Are you the child of an affair?" Paul's eyes widened and Alex nodded.
"Bastard is the right word," Alex said nonchalantly.
"Alex!" Finn gasped.
"Don't say that ugly word," Frank said.
"You know?" Draco began, clearing his throat, "Zeth 'The Conqueror' had a bastard cousin, a man known as Mad Frank. Zeth witnessed Frank's struggle for many years, saw him raise his voice only to be heard by no one and knew how much it affected him and everyone around him. Zeth 'The Conqueror' couldn't stand it, so he rather frequently had to threaten people with his dragon to ensure the word of his cousin would be heard."
"Yes, but Zeth 'the Singer' doesn't have a dragon," Alex said.
"And you need no dragon to stand for you," replied Draco, "You yourself are your dragon, and your voice is your fire. You are strong, brave, and very tall too."
"If your family doesn't see how wide you've spread your wings, burn them with your talent." Paul said with a smile, "But what's Evalon? A series of teenage books or something?"
"It's the twisted world Draco and Zeth came from," Alex said, "They only talk about the past, but never about their lives there."
"The past is a beacon, not a port, my grandfather used to say," Finn said.
"Your grandfather was wise, Finn. All I learned at Evalon is that royalty is full of shit," Draco said.
"But you were Vampire Royalty, weren't you, Draco?" Finn asked, "My grandfather said he knew your brother, Duke Bloodimir Von Stroker is his name right?"
"There are more Von Strokers?" Paul asked. "I mean, obviously there are, but where are they? Do they live here too?"
"Nope. I am the only Von Stroker in the Human Lands and unless my brother hasn't died or had children, which I doubt, I am technically the last one. And you'll be surprised to know that Zeth and I were born and raised in The Titan. Do you know what they called that castle?" Draco wiggled his eyebrows and everyone shook their heads. "They said it was the House of the Bastards."
"Wait..." Paul gasped, "Are you..."
"A dwarf vampire, I'm not a pure-blooded Von Stroker. Zeth may think he's a diva, but he and I come from the same place, and we both fought, grew, and earned the respect of all of Evalon. Our childhoods weren't exactly bad, we lived comfortably in the Titan until Zeth decided to accompany a knight around the world and..."
"Wait!" Alex raised his eyebrows, "Wasn't Zeth one of those powerful Rahmans who were born in a cradle of gold and had dragons?"
"Nope." Draco tenderly shook his head with his cute little eyes closed, "Zeth never actually had any wealth or anything like that, although life on the Titan was almost royalty, but nothing belonged to us. In fact, Zeth was once offered to be king of Evalon when there was a succession problem, but he refused, so he went to Guardian Fort and became Lord Commander. He lived among criminals and the occasional honourable man, but believe me, Guardian Fort was a dumpster, and he never complained about the deplorable living conditions."
"I thought Zeth was born a millionaire," Paul said, "And the Titan... Was it some kind of hotel or something?"
"It was the place where many, many illegitimate sons and daughters of King Anuber Rahman lived and were later selected to rule the kingdoms of Evalon, bastards who replaced royalty who died of the Rotting Sickness. My father was the son of King Anuber Rahman and Marchioness Fangelique Von Stroker, my cuteness comes from her," Draco patted his cheeks with his eyes closed and a smile, "The Titan was a huge, beautiful place to live. But even if I want to talk about it, what happened in The Titan stays in The Titan."
"Speaking of hotels..." Alex said, "About our friendship... What we talked about at the hotel. Everything's fine, right, Draquito? Between you and me?"
"Everything is perfect, Alex. Seriously, I'm happy just having a huge crush on you," Draco nodded, and his face heated up.
"That's the most relaxed I've ever heard someone say that they have a crush to their crush." Frank said and took another sip of his coffee.
"Hey, you get along with your ex," Alex said, winking, "That speaks volumes about how mature you both are."
"But I don't want Evie to be my ex anymore!" Frank threw his hands up, "But our date was ruined by a misunderstanding."
"Wait, I don't understand," Paul said, "Your date was with Evie but since she didn't show up you invited Jade to dinner?"
"Well, Jade hadn't eaten anything since I asked Evie to take her for breakfast as far as I knew," Frank said, "So I offered her something to eat but she left too."
"And does Evie know that?" Paul asked.
"Well, yeah. She and I talked outside the hotel and cleared up the misunderstanding," Frank said, "She understood that I just wanted to be a gentlemanly friend."
"And Alex already talked to Jade about it," Finn said.
"That's right. I told Jade all the reasons why we all like Evie," Alex said, "And Jade was very offended afterwards although I don't understand why."
Suddenly, Draco's phone on the table buzzed. As soon as he read the message, he jumped from his chair and giggled, scaring Frank, Finn, Paul, and Alex, who looked at him strangely.
"Why are you so happy?" Paul asked.
"The song 'Animatronic' was chosen to be the theme song for the Fright Nights At Teddy's movie!" Draco exclaimed, jumping around.
"And how did they listen to the song if it hasn't been released yet?" Finn narrowed his eyes.
Draco stopped his happy dance.
Fuck! This would surely reach Zeth's ears, and there would be trouble.
"I knew about this so don't be mad at Draco, Finn," Frank said. "In fact, I was the one who contacted the film producers."
"And I assume Evie had something to do with it too?" Finn grumbled. Frank's face said it all.
"They swore not to leak it, so I didn't think twice," Draco explained. Then he checked his phone again and gulped. "Shit."
"Is everything okay?" Frank cocked his head.
"They say they want to see us tomorrow at two in the afternoon, at a diner on the outskirts of Phantown where the filming is taking place. They are going to lend us the location and the animatronics to shoot the music video."
"Well, we have a problem," Frank said, covering his mouth with wide eyes. "Tomorrow night we have a concert and..."
"And we're supposed to film the 'Slasher Mask' video in the morning," Finn finished. "I'll take care of it," he stood up with his phone in hand. "I'll tell Sam that we'll film earlier in the morning. He already has the set ready since yesterday."
"Make way, ladies and gentlemen. Zeth's new right-hand man has spoken," Alex laughed and clapped his hands.
"Shouldn't you check with Zeth?" Paul asked Finn, who shook his head.
"I am the second in command apparently. If there are problems, Zeth trusts that I can take care of it," Finn replied, breathing heavily. "I hope Sam is awake right now. And I will tell Egor to call Mr. Cubbus to make a contract to prevent the song from being leaked before the music video is released."
"Oh! Don't worry! It won't be long until the movie comes out. Only a few days," Draco said. "They said the video would be released a few days before the premiere, so we'll have two videos in a month. And did I tell you that we will be invited to the premiere?"
"Draco! You... You... Son of a... Bat!" Finn was really trying to breathe, but he was already trembling, his piranha teeth growing longer and longer. "Damn it! You're an... Argh! I'm going to tell Egor to reschedule every release date then," Finn sighed. It was hard to deal with all this and fix it overnight. How could Zeth take care of everything and still come out of it smelling like roses?! "When is the premiere, Draco?"
"The movie comes out on October twenty-seventh..." Draco looked down, and Finn got so angry he even showed his piranha teeth. "I know! I know! In a week! And 'Slasher Mask' is coming out next month! Ãmi pare rÄu!"
"I think we can work it out," Finn scratched his head as he paced in circles. "Two videos in less than a month, that's two wasted bullets. Maybe we can plan an event, maybe sing at the premiere. I'll think of something." His phone buzzed then, "Awesome! Sam has already answered my message! We can go downstairs and film some 'fancy' scenes at five in the morning and postpone until tomorrow the scenes where the guy in the mask chases us. That will give us enough time to go to Laska for our neon makeover, film the 'Animatronic' video and return to the Hallow Inn for the concert at ten o'clock. I don't think sound-checking will be possible so we'll leave it to Fifth Octave."
"The second in command has spoken!" Draco said, bowing. "MulÈumesc, Finn. For sorting it out."
"Yes, but you still have to explain to Zeth that you sent a song to unknown people, risking it being leaked!" Finn complained.
"Hey Finn!" Alex wiggled his eyebrows. "Zeth already owes you a hot night, don't you think?"
"Shut your mouth!" Finn grunted.
"Teddy Fuzzbear's Pizza! Here I come!" Draco said, laughing, "You know, it's ironic that they're filming the movie in the City of the Spectres! You'd feel right at home here, Paul!"
"I thought you said we were going to Phantown," Alex said and Draco nodded.
"Oh! It's just that you might not know. You see, Phantown was founded in 1918 by spectres of New Shacklesack. Houses O'Pry, Visibal, Reaperton, Gheist among many others were not very happy that the Rubinsteins and Hills had become independent from Evalon so they left without notice instead of starting a rebellion because Zafira had Zeldrich-Hybrids on her side. That's why Zeth and I found out about the Hybrids and returned to Evalon."
"You returned to Evalon?" Alex asked, "Where were you if not in Evalon?"
"Oh! We were technically ending the first world war, anyway," Draco said with a dismissive hand, "When Zeth and I returned to Evalon, everything was in chaos because Moonfall wanted to claim the abandoned lands of New Shacklesack. Queen Zafira Rahman had appointed a lesser house as rulers of that area and well, the Lycan Rebellion was quick to begin, and ended even faster when Zafira deployed her three Human-Zeldrich Hybrids. Almost nothing remained of the little that remained of Moonfall after the War of the Nine Kingdoms. This marked the end of The Age Of The Disputed Lands, more or less."
"So that was actually a thing?" Finn asked and Draco nodded, "Okay, hold on. Draco, quick question... My grandfather used to say that he was born in Atlan's Golden Palace during The Age Of The Disputed Lands. He talked a lot about a central kingdom that had been abandoned and that all the other kingdoms wanted to claim. Was that an actual real life story?"
"I mean, yeah. Your grandfather must have been born between 1915 and 1918 then." Draco said. "And he was probably talking about the disputed lands of The Madlands in Central Evalon, not about New Shacklesack."
"So that means..." Finn was interrupted when the Solar door opened with a bang, and Zeth entered at full speed, without greeting, without turning, without saying a word, going straight to his room, slamming the door.
"What happened?" Draco asked.
"Angry Blonde made him angry," said Everett, who entered the Solar with clenched fists, stomping his way inside. "She is with Hostage Evie."
"We should go help her!" Frank stood up, but Everett shook his head.
"Evie said she doesn't want help."
"No digas mamadas! Let's go help her right now! She is like family! And family always takes care of each other!" Alex stood up. "Where is she?"
"Her apartment," said Everett, "Angry Blonde looked angrier than before, I thought I was going to die. I got as nervous as when Mama Yeti exiled me, my sister and Aspem."
"This Angry Blonde has already taken several years of my life!" Finn, for the first time in forever, was so angry that he looked like he was going to bite someone.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Alex growled, "Let's go save our almost-girlfriend!"
"I'll go with you," Paul said, and everyone looked at him strangely, "Hey. I may not be a member of Monster Mash, but Evie did a lot for me, and I'm going to return the favour."